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I was supposed to post this with my group Project #52 on Tuesday but I wanted to wait until today because I knew what I wanted to photograph. Today is Memorial Day, which is a U.S. holiday that pays tribute to all the service men and women that lost their lives during military service. For myself and most Americans it is a day to honor and celebrate all the men and women who protect and serve our country, which for me is much more fitting. I can’t think of too many other things to be more grateful for than these men and women who sacrifice so much to serve their country.

My mom, my sister, my aunt, and myself took the opportunity today to visit the New Albany National Cemetery, which lays to rest veterans from 7 different battles, as well as the cemetery where several family members are buried including my dad. It was a humbling experience standing in the National Cemetery and I couldn’t help but feeling overwhelmed with gratitude.

It was a wonderful day to pay tribute to not only the men and woman who have served our country but our loved ones as well.

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I am still doing the Project 52 with some friends but I needed to post one just for myself this week as well.

If you follow me at all you know I struggle with portrait photography, and if you are new to my site let me tell you this, I struggle with portrait photography! I am not sure what it is about this type of shoot that makes me uncomfortable or uninspired but I have really tried very hard to overcome this mental block. I have turned to photography friends Paul and Jon for pointers and tips and while I have taken to heart everything that I have learned from them, I still find myself dreading the prospect of portrait work.

This week I must have had a break through. I took my niece out for her senior portraits and I had a blast. I was probably more comfortable directing her since I know her but I felt at ease tell her to move around and changing any shot that I didn’t think worked. We even tried several locations and it was a great time. The fact that she is beautiful helped quite a bit but so far the ones that I have edited have turned out really great, if I do say so myself.

The real test will come when she sees the finished product as she is very picky about photos of herself, but I am excited to share them and I am equally as excited that I came away from the experience feeling more confident and positive about portrait photography than I ever have.

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My fellow photography friend eFeinvited me to be part of a group Project 52 and I gratefully accepted. It is a lot more fun doing this project with others. We do have a language barrier to overcome each week but I am so honored to be doing this project with them and seeing the world through my friends eyes.

Our theme for this week was “looking up” and while I didn’t take the challenge literally I think what I captured really represents this feeling for me at the moment as in “things are looking up”. Five weeks ago my mom had open heart surgery and today she is doing amazing. She is already trying to do way too much but it is so good to see her out and about and enjoying her new life.

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It is a good thing that I decided to do a Project 52 because even posting once a week has proven to be difficult. Work, taking care of mom, and several side projects have really taken over my life lately. I try to stop in on twitter once in a while just to stay connected but it seems that all my friends there are crazy busy as well. At least I feel better knowing that I am not alone! It must be in the air :)

It has still been nasty and raining around here but we are supposed to be getting some sunshine this week and I am looking forward to it. The flooding in our area was getting bad and very dangerous so we really need the rain to go on hiatus. I like a rainy day but only if I can stay in curled up with a good book or the remote control.

The photo I am posting today is another cemetery shot on yes another rainy day. I have found myself drawn to cemeteries lately and I am not sure why. I love really old places with beautiful stones and monuments. I love looking at the dates and finding last names that I have never heard of.

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I find the fact that I chose today to start posting again very fitting since I started my 365 journey last year on Easter as well. I must be particularly inspired by this day.

As most of you know I finished my 365 a few weeks ago and I really needed a break, then my family life got crazy so I was forced to take a break whether I wanted to or not. I wasn’t sure what my plan was going to be once things slowed down but I finally decided to commit to a 52 week project and post in between if I felt the need in the photography category. This plan will give me the choice to take a break if I want to or post as much as I like, and I have to say I have missed blogging and interacting with all of you very much.

If you will indulge me for a bit I will catch those of you that don’t know up on what has been going on with my family. My sister hurt her back so badly that she is still off from work and in a lot of pain, my mom unexpectedly went into the hospital for bypass surgery and although she is doing really well it was probably the scariest thing that has ever happened to me, and tragically my niece and nephew had to terminate the pregnancy of their second child. We have been through a lot over the last few weeks and while it will take time to recover both physically and mentally for all of us I am reminded of how amazing my family actually is. I feel so blessed every single day that I was given the wonderful gift of each and every one of them.

I truly hope to get back to a regular routine with all of my fellow bloggers and my own blog, and I thank all of you for sticking around to see what was next for me and for all the well wishes to my family.

OH, this photo was taken today while I took my mom out for a drive to get her out of the house. We have had massive amounts of rain here lately so I hate to take advantage of the few hours the rain let up. This particular shot is obviously an HDR image and it was taken and the Fairview Cemetery in New Albany, IN.